People (myself included) have a fascination with the end of the world. Maybe it's based on fear. We grew up during the Cold War (some of us). Always there has been war, or the threat of war, hanging over us. School teachers bring it up in current events. Newspapers print about the latest fighting news. It's all around us. No wonder we can't get it out of our minds. No wonder we are curious about what will happen afterwards, to the people left here. What will happen to our planet, our civilization, our governments and our businesses? Will our empire Earth still be around once everything really does hit the fan?

I'd like to know. Of course, I don't expect to live long enough to see it. So, I like to see what other people think about it and see as possibilities. Often the possibilities are on the grim side. But, there is a fascination with death, destruction and violence.

Overcome Fear of Doomsday Predictions

This year the Mayans are the predictors of doom. On December 21st, this year, the Mayans predicted a major catastrophe, an end of the world if not the planet itself. No one knows exactly what to expect. People are afraid, even those who are reluctantly afraid or skeptical.

How do you avoid the fear of this doomsday prediction or the next prediction of doom?

Keep in mind this is not the first time doom, apocalypse, Armageddon the end of the world, has been predicted. Every time the century changes, since people started using a calendar, there have been big upsets over the changing of the date. Predictions are usually about the date, the sequence of numbers or something to do with how the planets are moving in the universe around our own planet.

Look up past doomsday predictions Read and learn about them and see how much they have in common with current and future doomsday predictions. It's easy to be afraid of change - that doesn't mean the world will end.

If you are concerned about a particular prediction, do your own research about it. Don't rely on second opinions, gossip and rumours. Find out yourself and decide what you do or don't believe.

Be skeptical. Don't believe in a prediction just because it made the news, got talked about in school, at work, on the bus ride home, etc. Being popular and talked about, doesn't make it true.

Watch out for people who see patterns and believe in doomsday predictions. You can work on any idea long enough and find some kind of pattern. Try it yourself. Or work backwards and disprove the current pattern or conspiracy theory leading to the end of the world and civilization as we know it.

Stop listening. Stop reading the websites, stop listening to theories or reading about patterns and predictions.

Be optimistic. Don't waste too much time upset about something that hasn't happened and may never happen. Even if we are doomed you can only do so much to be prepared. The rest of the time you could be enjoying your life. Don't waste your time being negative about something that's only a prediction after all.

Curiousity and Urban Exploration

I like to see how the world might look in the future. I like to see buildings, those which crumble, but mostly those that survive and remain standing. I like to see how our roads, and all of our great man-made achievements weather and get taken over by nature and time.

This is the same curiousity which drives me to be an urban explorer. Whether I'm in a city, a town or in the middle of nowhere something like a rusty nail, weathered bricks, or a unidentified object possibly used in pioneer days will lure me over for a better look and a photograph.

Originally posted to HubPages. Laura has been photographing historical, abandoned, and rural ruins in Ontario since getting her first digital camera in 2006.

Get away from the usual distractions, the every day stress and take a road trip with the one you love. Bring romance back into your relationship with some time alone, some snacks, a road map and a vehicle for two.

Share a few adventures. Make a plan but be prepared to stray from the plan. Try a road just because it caught your eye. Maybe the name of the street was unusual or reminded you of something. Or, it might be a road leading to a beach, an old mill, something for you to discover together. Don't worry about getting lost. That's just part of the adventure. Together, with the map, you can figure it all out. Besides, you can't really be too lost when you're together.

If you can spend some extra money rent a fancy car for the trip. Plan a great place to stay overnight too, a romantic bed and breakfast or a luxurious hotel.

Leave children at home for this trip. This is grown ups only. If you have children get a babysitter who can stay late, even over night if you can manage to splurge on a hotel or a bed and breakfast. There are all kinds of games, not all of them are for the road.

Get Lost Together

People seem to think there is something wrong with being lost. I know people who will never leave the main road because they fear getting lost. It's actually not so easy to get lost when you have a good map. Find a map of your area which shows the back roads. You might bring along a compass to give you the extra direction for north, south, east and west. Between the map, the compass and your own common sense you can find your way into a town or back to the busier roads. So don't let a simple thing like getting lost stop you from having an adventure off the every day route and roadways.

Do Things Together

Leave the mobile phones and other communication devices at home. But bring your camera. Read the settings so you can set the timer and snap photographs of yourselves, together. Or ask other people you come across to take the photos for you. Make sure you have several photos where one of you isn't hidden behind the camera.

Stop for a lunch or dinner (a breakfast if you are out there and on the road early) but don't go to a restaurant. Pick a grocery store, or a farmer's market or roadside stand and gather your goodies. If the weather is good have your own picnic outdoors. If the weather is snowy or wet and cold eat in the vehicle. (Most of us have gone through the drive through at some fast food place and eaten in the car when we are alone).

If you see something interesting like a roadside attraction, a local fair or festival take a break from the driving and explore together. Buy baked goods, fresh produce, arts and crafts or buy nothing at all. The only thing that matters is that you stick together and talk about the things you see.

Play Road Games

Don't laugh or think the old road games are too silly or just for children. Any little game to help pass the time will also give you something to talk about, something to laugh about too. What games did you play on family trips when you were a kid: I Spy, Licence Plate Bingo, memory games and finding the alphabet.

Bring along a good book and read to each other. Try romantic poetry if that suits your style.

Don't forget music. Pull off to the side of the road, turn up the car radio and dance together. See if you can work your way up to a cuddly slow dance.

If you can't dance then sing together. Put on the old familiar tunes and see who can remember most of the words and who has the most creative wrong words.

Share the back seat. Cuddle, make out or just curl up and have a nap together.

At the End of the Day

Use souvenirs, mementos, the photos you took to create a scrapbook from the trip. You don't need to be a scrapbooker, just make something out of all the photos which you can pull out later to remember the trip. Use the collection you create to tell the story of the trip. It will also work great when you're planning the next road trip romance.

Get away from the usual distractions, the every day stress and take a road trip with the one you love. Bring romance back into your relationship with some time alone, some snacks, a road map and a vehicle for two.

Share a few adventures. Make a plan but be prepared to stray from the plan. Try a road just because it caught your eye. Maybe the name of the street was unusual or reminded you of something. Or, it might be a road leading to a beach, an old mill, something for you to discover together. Don't worry about getting lost. That's just part of the adventure. Together, with the map, you can figure it all out. Besides, you can't really be too lost when you're together.

If you can spend some extra money rent a fancy car for the trip. Plan a great place to stay overnight too, a romantic bed and breakfast or a luxurious hotel.

Leave children at home for this trip. This is grown ups only. If you have children get a babysitter who can stay late, even over night if you can manage to splurge on a hotel or a bed and breakfast. There are all kinds of games, not all of them are for the road.

Get Lost Together

People seem to think there is something wrong with being lost. I know people who will never leave the main road because they fear getting lost. It's actually not so easy to get lost when you have a good map. Find a map of your area which shows the back roads. You might bring along a compass to give you the extra direction for north, south, east and west. Between the map, the compass and your own common sense you can find your way into a town or back to the busier roads. So don't let a simple thing like getting lost stop you from having an adventure off the every day route and roadways.

Do Things Together

Leave the mobile phones and other communication devices at home. But bring your camera. Read the settings so you can set the timer and snap photographs of yourselves, together. Or ask other people you come across to take the photos for you. Make sure you have several photos where one of you isn't hidden behind the camera.

Stop for a lunch or dinner (a breakfast if you are out there and on the road early) but don't go to a restaurant. Pick a grocery store, or a farmer's market or roadside stand and gather your goodies. If the weather is good have your own picnic outdoors. If the weather is snowy or wet and cold eat in the vehicle. (Most of us have gone through the drive through at some fast food place and eaten in the car when we are alone).

If you see something interesting like a roadside attraction, a local fair or festival take a break from the driving and explore together. Buy baked goods, fresh produce, arts and crafts or buy nothing at all. The only thing that matters is that you stick together and talk about the things you see.

Play Road Games

Don't laugh or think the old road games are too silly or just for children. Any little game to help pass the time will also give you something to talk about, something to laugh about too. What games did you play on family trips when you were a kid: I Spy, Licence Plate Bingo, memory games and finding the alphabet.

Bring along a good book and read to each other. Try romantic poetry if that suits your style.

Don't forget music. Pull off to the side of the road, turn up the car radio and dance together. See if you can work your way up to a cuddly slow dance.

If you can't dance then sing together. Put on the old familiar tunes and see who can remember most of the words and who has the most creative wrong words.

Share the back seat. Cuddle, make out or just curl up and have a nap together.

At the End of the Day

Use souvenirs, mementos, the photos you took to create a scrapbook from the trip. You don't need to be a scrapbooker, just make something out of all the photos which you can pull out later to remember the trip. Use the collection you create to tell the story of the trip. It will also work great when you're planning the next road trip romance.

I don't have a link for this. It was posted as a web course which is now gone.

Russian Culture By Lindsay Kosarev

Introduction

Russia is not something you understand with your mind. To have any understanding of the logic or culture of Russia, you need to feel her soul, her history, and her people.

Living the Russian Way is designed to give the student a glimpse at a completely different life perspective and way of thinking. I am not focused on historical or political debates, as many Russians are not. Part of Russian thinking is that these things cannot really be answered. Plus, it is better to make such discussions in the privacy of your home with a couple of good friends and a bottle of something intoxicating.

In other culture classes there is a focus in polite and “cultural” Russian culture, but this not such a course. I will not be talking about the Bolshoi Theater or traditional singing, but rather real people and living culture. This course will be challenging, not necessarily in the material, but it will challenge your perceptions about life. This challenge is the point behind cultural adaption. It will be challenging because you will begin to enter into and try to feel out the elusive and mysterious Russian soul. …more

The world is just fine, as a planet. The people who were on the planet are gone. All gone, or are they...?

One reason this movie may never have become one of the well known classics is because some of us (like myself) don't think being alone in the world would be such a terrible thing. Could you handle being the last person on the planet, alone in every way, all day and night?

Harry Belafonte stars in this movie as a miner who is trapped deep in the mine. The world outside undergoes a war and when he finally manages to rescue himself from the mine he discovers everyone he has ever known is now gone. The reason he was never rescued from the mine was the absence of man power.

What would it be like to really be the last people on Earth?

My favourite part of the movie is watching Ralph (Harry Belafonte) make his own world in the dead world he finds himself so alone in. Ralph doesn't like being alone. He makes a place for himself where he brings in store mannequins to seem like company. He talks to them and interacts with them. But, one day, one of the plastic smiles of a mannequin gets on his nerves so he throws him off the balcony.

Down below a woman screams. This is where the story takes on another aspect, the issue of the last man and the last woman standing and, more importantly, the issue of black and white - race.

This movie comes out in the early 1960's. Racism was a big issue, or not, depending on how you look at it. When being racist is socially acceptable and expected is racism an issue at all? When the last two people on the planet are a black man and a white woman is race something of an issue? It is for Ralph, the lead character. He does not feel he can be anything beyond friends with this young, white woman. Yet she thinks there is nothing stopping them, until she finds herself talking about being young, female and white. The movie does make a great statement about race and how the issue is felt beyond the obvious.

Of course, everything is all upset again when a third person comes into their small society, a white man.

The movie ends in a unique way, a solution which seems too modern and is not likely to work out in the reality. It does give the movie a tidier and happier ending. Although... I have always wondered how things will work out as more people are found or manage to find this small group and begin to meld in. Is it possible some of this original group will wander off to be alone again?